With the election taking place last night, everyone wants to talk about it. That's great, and political discussion, along with a little gloating or moaning, is certainly good for the soul. But what about when you just want to put your head down and get work done? Here's how to get out of those conversations and stay focused.

As with any big news event, all the water cooler conversation today is going to be about last night's election results, but if you have work to do and no time for the parade of political conversation, you have to employ a few tricks to get out of those conversations without upsetting anyone.

Get Out of the Conversation as Quickly as Possible

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The easiest way to get out of a time-sucking political conversation is to stop it before it starts. For this, it's all about pushing the conversation away from you. Sure, you can certainly get up and excuse yourself, head to the bathroom, and hide out for a while, but that's not going to end the conversation for the whole day. If a simple "I don't have time for this right now" doesn't seem to work, Psychology Today recommends you interrupt them and change the topic:

Don't feel shy about changing the topic, or directly asking your friend to slow down or stop for a minute so you can have a turn to speak. Given the situation, it isn't rude or impolite. If you're lucky, you may startle the heck out of your friend, disrupt a pattern of one-way conversation, and seize an opportunity to speak and be heard.

Approach the talker and say, "I noticed you came by this morning to talk to me. I want to let you know that the best time to talk to me is when I'm not busy. When I'm busy, I focus on what I'm doing and I can't talk. So, if it is something really important, let me know quickly and I'll come by later and get the information."

Essentially you want to push away the conversation before it gets going. Political conversations can have the tendency to go on for a while, especially if you're not in agreement. Photo by Lazurite.

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[P]eople bellyache just to get attention. [Author and speaker Will Bowen] suggests giving the complainer a different kind of attention by asking, ' "What's going well for you?" They'll look at you like you're crazy at first,' but persist and "the person will either switch topics or stop talking to you. Either way, you don't have to listen to them any more."

Doing this can get the conversation away from a long-winded political rant and toward something more productive. That said, if things are still leaning toward the negative, Psychology Today suggests you simply share a positive story instead:

Take the risk to start a new conversation with something good that is happening now.

If nothing else, it will hopefully get the conversation back on track so you can return to work quickly. Photo by joaquin uy.

Hide Away Beneath a Set of Headphones

If the conversations just keep coming at you all day long, it might be time to put on a set of headphones to block out the chatter. As we've noted before, a good set of headphones usually signals to people you don't want to be disturbed. If you don't have headphones, but your office has headsets for your phones, those can do the trick as well. In extreme circumstances you can also always hide behind the phone itself if you really don't want to talk to someone.